The Future: A User's Guide

Widespread pessimism and fear of the future are everywhere. With times to come often seeming threatening and uncertain, this book offers new perspectives and fresh ways of thinking. Futurologist Florence Gaub shows that everyone can influence what lies ahead-in their personal or professional life, or in society. Her ideas are for those who refuse to be paralyzed by fear, instead seeing the future as a space full of possibilities.

Gaub explores how humanity's visions of tomorrow have changed throughout history; she explains what the future is, how it works, what disruptions may arise and how to fix them. She draws on insights from neuroscience, psychology and philosophy to show how humans conceive and construct the future, as individuals and as a society.

A bestseller in Germany, this smart, snappy handbook of ideas is an antidote to passive fatalism. It challenges our lack of faith in our own ability to shape what is to come, or how it will affect our lives. After all, we're the only beings who can imagine the future in such detail that we can actually create it. Gaub is a brilliant guide to rediscovering that gift.

Florence Gaub PhD is a political scientist, military strategist and futurologist. The NATO Defense College's Director of Research, a World Economic Forum Global Future Council member, and former vice-president of the European Forum Alpbach, she holds degrees from Humboldt University, Sciences Po, the Sorbonne and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.